The Answer To This Mess? Let Supply and Demand Work

I am not an economist, but as a historian I have great respect for economists who have studied and created theories that explain the ups and downs of free markets. I have become a die-hard believer in the theory of supply and demand, not because I understand it, but because I have now lived four score years and seen it work.

To put it candidly, when people have a lot of money to spend and goods in the marketplace are scarce, the price rises. With higher prices, people say the heck with that, and quit buying. Then retailers – to get rid of the goods – cut prices, and manufacturers cut production. And when things get really slow, both will lay off some workers lest the company goes broke. Thus you have business cycles – ups and downs – and the law of supply and demand takes over with a decision made by we-the-people to spend – or not spend – our money.

So...in the free market system we-the-people make the great economic decisions, voting every day with our money. Look at the economic history of the United States. In a free market the people spend their own money for what THEY want, and what THEY can afford. Every time a government tries to tell us how to spend our money, or puts more money in the system, or takes it out – as in socialized countries – it messes the whole thing up. Through Fannie and Freddie our government messed with natural supply and demand in the housing market, and the bottom fell out. Now they are at it again...this time at an even grander scale.

This is Gordon Sawyer from a window on historic Green Street.

Link: About Gordon Sawyer